Sharks: An Eponym Dictionary

By Michael Watkins and Bo Beolens

This fascinating reference book delves into the origins of the vernacular and scientific names of sharks, rays, skates and chimeras. Each entry offers a concise biography, revealing the hidden stories and facts behind each species’ name. 

Full of interesting facts and humorous titbits, the authors’ extensive research and detective work has made this book a comprehensive source of knowledge on everyone associated with the naming of a species. A fascinating resource for anyone with an interest in sharks, from curious naturalist to professional ichthyologist, it is an essential addition to the library of anyone wishing to satisfy those tickling questions on the mysteries behind the names.

Sometimes a name refers not to a person but to a fictional character or mythological figure. Eptatretus eos is named after the Greek goddess of the dawn in reference to the pink colouring of the hagfish. The Chilean Roundray Urotrygon cimar, named after Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología in honour of its 20th anniversary, and the Angular Angelshark Squatina Guggenheim, named after the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, are both named after institutions. The Whiteleg Skate Amblyraja taaf is just a shorthand way of describing a toponym – Territoire des Terres australes et antarctiques françaises. There are also entries which are light-hearted such as the one for a lady who told us "that decoration of her cakes have included roughtail skate Bathyraja trachura, red abalone Haliotis rufescens, and chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha."

Following the success of their previous Eponym Dictionaries, the authors have joined forces to give the Elasmobranch group of fishes a similar treatment but they have also included the describers and authors of the original descriptions of the fishes involved, in addition to those names that are, or appear to be, eponyms.

They have tracked down some 850 names of living as well as dead people. Of these half are eponyms after people who have fish named after them and may also have described a fish or fishes. The other half are ichthyologists, marine biologists and other scientists who have become involved in the description and naming of sharks, rays, skates and chimeras. For each person mentioned there is brief, pithy biography. Additionally there are some 50 entries for what sound like eponyms but turned out not to have any connection to a person, such as the Alexandrine Torpedo is named after the city in Egypt and not Alexander the Great.

In some cases these are a reminder of the courage of scientists whose dedicated research in remote locations exposed them to disease and even violent death. The eponym ensures that their memory will survive, aided by reference works such as this highly readable dictionary. Altogether 1,577 fishes are listed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelagic Publishing
• Release date: Jan 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781907807947

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The naming of sharks (and other cartilaginous fishes) is a difficult matter … (who was responsible? – surely not McCavity?)

Firstly, apologies for adopting and adapting T.S. Eliot’s The Naming of Cats but it seems a convenient way of describing the content of this book. It covers all the people who are associated with the vernacular and scientific names of extant Sharks, Rays, Skates and Chimeras. We have ignored species only found in fossil remains. It includes not only those after whom species have been named but also the authors of the original descriptions of them.

Therefore some entries relate to people after whom taxa have been named and others refer to people who have described taxa. Taxa named after the person are always shown before those that he or she has described. In each case taxa are set out starting with family, then a gap to genera, then a gap to species, then a gap to sub-species. Where there are, for example, more than one species they will be set out in order of description date starting with the earliest; if a date appears against more than one taxon, then they are arranged in the alphabetical order of the scientific name.

If a heading is shown in bold italics, e.g. Zahn, then it is a mini-biography that is not about a person but something else, such as a trawler after which a taxon has been named.

Who is it for?

Vernacular names of animals often contain a person’s name (such names are called ‘eponyms’). Furthermore, many scientific names contain the Latinised name of its discoverer, or some other person thought worthy of the honour, whether it be a binomial for a species or a trinomial for a subspecies. Indeed some genera names are also eponyms. So this book is for the amateur ichthyologist, the student of zoology or anyone else interested in taxonomy, nomenclature of fish in general and the Elasmobranch fishes in particular.

Describers and namers

New species are first brought to the notice of the scientific community in a formal, published description of a type specimen, essentially a dead example of the species, which will eventually be lodged in a scientific collection. The person who describes the species will give it its scientific name, usually in Latin but sometimes in Latinised ancient Greek! Sometimes the ‘new’ animal is later reclassified and then the scientific name may be changed. This frequently applies to generic names (the first part of a binomial name), but specific scientific names (the second part of a binomial), once proposed, usually cannot be amended or replaced – there are precise and complicated rules governing any such changes.

We may have missed a few recently published taxonomic changes (although we have tried to be comprehensive up until the final proof of the book), but we have put the name of the original describer after every entry. Because alterations to taxonomy have been so radical, and so swiftly changing, we decided not to put brackets around changed entries.

Since fish live in an environment into which humans can only venture if they are suitably equipped to survive, it is axiomatic that there may be a huge number of new species to be discovered. This is evidenced by the number of entirely unknown fish that were stranded on the beaches near Fukushima in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011.

Fish, therefore, are a class of animals where the rate of discovery of new species seems most unlikely to abate, unlike the discovery rates of mammals and birds. Therefore the reader may find that more recently named species and sub-species are not in this book.

Although we have used current scientific names as far as possible, these are not always as universal as the casual observer might suppose. There is no ‘world authority’ on such matters.

There are no agreed conventions for English names and indeed the choice of vernacular names is often controversial. Often the person who coined the scientific name will also have given it a vernacular name, which may not be an English name if the describer was not an English-speaker. On the other hand, vernacular names have often been added afterwards, frequently by people other than the describers. In this book, therefore, when we refer to an animal having been NAMED by someone, we mean that that person gave it the ENGLISH name in question. We refer to someone as a DESCRIBER when they were responsible for the original description of the species and hence for its scientific name. As stated above, it is the describer’s name which is given after the scientific name in the biographies.

How to find an entry

At the back of this book there is an appendix that gives the basic identification details for all the fishes named in this book and their authors. This appendix also acts as an index and shows the scientific name, vernacular name and the name of either the only or, if more than one person was involved, the senior author of the original description.

Some of the Appendix entries are in bold type and they show that there is an entry under the name of the eponym which may be in regard to either the vernacular name or the scientific name or both the vernacular and scientific names. As examples, some clues for you to follow:

Narcine westraliensis McCain’s Skate – you should look up under M for an entry for McCain

Bathyraja eatonii Eaton’s Skate – you should look up under E for an entry for Eaton

Bathyraja fedorovi Cinnamon Skate – you should look up under F for an entry on Fedorov

Irolita Softnose Skate genus – you should look up under I for an entry on Irolita

Irolita waitii Southern Round Skate – you will find entries for both Irolita and for Wait

Carcharhinus tilstoni Whitley’s Blacktip Shark – you will find entries for Whitley and for Tilston

The last column is for the name of an author and you will find an entry for him or her. Very often taxa are described by more than one person, for instance:

Brazilian Soft Skate Malacoraja obscura Carvalho, Gomes & Gadig, 2005

To avoid cluttering up the appendix/index it appears there as:

Brazilian Soft Skate Malacoraja obscura Carvalho, but under the entry for Carvalho you will find the names of his co-authors and so know where to look for entries on them.

Spelling of scientific names

Some Latin rendering of names may confuse because of slight alphabetical differences. For example, any name beginning ‘Mc’ may, in a binomial, be rendered ‘mac’. It is wise, therefore, to search for both spellings, especially as names now tend to be used in full with a simple gender tag. Confusion may also arise as other alphabets (such as Cyrillic) have fewer or larger numbers of letters, some of which are often interchangeable when written in the modern English version of the Roman alphabet. Examples are V and W, J and Y, and letter combinations such as Cz and Ts for Czar and Tsar.

By convention, diacritical marks, such as accents in French and the tilda used in Spanish and Portuguese, have to be ignored in scientific names and the phonetic sense of them expressed in other ways. The Scandinavian letters å, ä, ö and ø are normally expressed as aa, ae, oe and oe and the German ö and ü as oe and ue. In the English name, either spelling is acceptable. We have tried to ensure correct accents in the names of people, their book titles etc.

Sources and acknowledgements

As many of the species of fish mentioned in this book were described in the recent past, many (well over 130) of the individuals included were able to help us; often they vetted their own entry, corrected our mistakes and virtually wrote their own entries. We are very grateful to them.

Where we had to delve for the biographical details behind a name, especially if it was an eponym and not connected to a describer, then the best thing to do was to read the etymology (if any) in the original description. A certain number of these are freely available to be read on the internet but the majority are not. The cost of buying sources becomes extortionate and so the answer is libraries. The principal library to which we had access was the Natural History Museum Library in South Kensington, where we could read many of the journals and books that we had identified as original sources. We would like to thank the staff at that library for their forbearance and help. Obituaries published in journals were very useful as a source of biographical detail. As the number and variety of written sources is so large, we are not including a formal bibliography (which would in any case be an oddity in a dictionary!), but at the end of this introduction you will find a selection of the variety of publications we have consulted.

When any source material could not be found, we were able to call on help and advice from friends and contacts in many countries. We wish to acknowledge in particular the generosity and help of those who went out of their way to help by supplying details of other people (including some who are deceased):

Dr Arcady V. Balushkin, Curator of Fishes and Head of the Ichthyology Laboratory, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, St Petersburg

Dr Gregor Caillet, Emeritus Professor, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California

Dr Hugo Patricio Castello, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dr De La Cruz-Agüero, National Polytechnic Institute La Paz, Baja California, Mexico

Dr Sherine Sonia Cubelio, Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Cochin, India

Dr Dave Ebert, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California

The Editor of the website www.neglectedscience.com

John Harrison, WAFIC, Perth, Australia

Dr Jim Harvey, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California

Hajime Ishihara, based in Amman, Jordan

Dr Anne-Flore Laloë, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth

Dr John Edward McCosker, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco

Dr John D. McEachran, Texas A & M University

Jonathan Mee, Issham Aquatics, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Dr Yefim Izrailevich Kukuev, Atlantic Scientific Research Institute AtlantNIRO, Russia

Dr Peter Rask Møller, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen

Dr Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, the Tethys Research Institute, Milan, Italy

Heather L. Prestridge, Texas A & M University

C. Raghunathan, Zoological Survey of India, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Dr Florian M. Steiner, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Daniel R. Yagolkowski, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Short list of written sources

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

Annals of the South African Museum

Australian Fisheries

Cladistics

Copeia

Cybium

Environmental Biology of Fishes

Ichthyological Society of Japan

Japanese Journal of Ichthyology

Journal of Applied Ichthyology

Journal of Fish Biology

Journal of Ichthyology

Journal of Marine Biological Association

Marine Biology

Marine Biodiversity

Northwestern Naturalist

Proceedings of the Biological Society Washington

Proceedings of the Royal Society London

Proceedings of the Society of Natural Sciences in Hamburg

Revista de Museo Argentino Ciencas Naturales

South African Society of Maritime Science

Zootaxa

A

Abbott

Least Brook Lamprey Lampetra aepyptera Abbott, 1860

Dr Charles Conrad Abbott (1843–1919) was an American physician, naturalist and, primarily, an archaeologist. He served as an army surgeon in the Union forces during the American Civil War before receiving his degree from the University of Pennsylvania (1865). He was Assistant Curator at the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1876–1889).

Abe

Bareskin Dogfish Centroscyllium kamoharai Abe, 1966

Tokiharu Abe (1911–1996) was a Japanese ichthyologist working at the University of Tokyo. His reputation was established with his taxonomic study of the puffer fish, particularly the genus Takifugu which he described (1949). Consequently a number of fish taxa, such as Tetraodon abei, were named in his honour. He was an honorary member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. He wrote a great many articles, including Taxonomic Studies of the Puffers (Tetraodontidae, Teleostei) from Japan and Adjacent Regions (1952). He died of a cerebral haemorrhage.

Abernethy

Blackbelly Lanternshark Etmopterus abernethyi Garrick, 1957 NCR

[Junior Syn Etmopterus lucifer]

Fred Abernethy (d.1995) was chief engineer on board the ‘Holmwood’ when it was captured and sunk by German raiders operating around New Zealand and in the Pacific (late 1940). He was held captive on board one of the raiders until released on to Emirau Island (east of New Guinea). He wrote of his experiences in A Captive’s Diary (1985). He later worked on the research vessel M.T. ‘Thomas Currell’ and contributed greatly to the collection of New Zealand elasmobranchs. He was on the New Zealand Chatham Islands Expedition (1954). Garrick named the fish when commercial fisherman Richard Baxter (q.v.) (1956) caught it.

Acero

Gorgona Guitarfish Rhinobatos prahli Acero & Franke, 1995

Hagfish sp. Eptatretus wayuu Mok, Saavedra-Diaz & Acero, 2001

Hagfish sp. Eptatretus ancon Mok, Saavedra-Diaz & Acero, 2001

[Syn. Quadratus ancon]

Dr Arturo Acero Pizarro (b.1954) is a marine biologist and ichthyologist from Santa Marta, Colombia. The Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Cartagena awarded his bachelor’s degree (1977), the University of Miami, Coral Gables his master’s (1983) and the University of Arizona, Tucson his doctorate (2004). He worked as a full-time instructor at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano (1977–1978) and was employed as a marine biologist by the Instituto de Investigaciones de Punta de Betín (1981–1986). Since 1986 he has been an associate professor, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Caribbean Campus. He wrote On an Interesting Specimen of Cownose Ray (Pisces: Rhinopteridae) from the Colombian Caribbean (1982) and Primer Registro de Torpedo peruana Chirichigno (Elasmobranchii: Torpedinidae) para el Pacífico Colombiano (1999). He has described more than 20 species of bony fish from Colombian and Mexican waters.

Achenbach

Freshwater Stingray sp. Potamotrygon labradori Castex, Maciel & Achenbach, 1963 [Junior Syn. Potamotrygon motoro]

Freshwater Stingray sp. Potamotrygon menchcai Achenbach, 1967

[Junior Syn. Potamotrygon falkneri]

Guillermo Martinez Achenbach (1911–1990) was an Argentine ichthyologist and Director of the Provincial Museum of Natural Sciences ‘Florentino Ameghino’ (1944–1978).

Ackley

Ackley’s Ray Raja ackleyi Garman, 1881

[Alt. Ocellate Ray]

Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Seth Mitchell Ackley (1845–1908) was the officer commanding the Coast Survey steamer ‘Blake’ (1877). He joined the navy (1862), entering the US Naval Academy. After graduating (1866) he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. His first command (1876–1877) was the ‘RS Wyoming’. He was stationed at Olongapo and Cavite and also served as a member of the Naval War College at Newport and the General Board of the US Navy.

Addison

Ornate Sleeper Ray Electrolux addisoni Compagno & Heemstra, 2007

Mark Ramsay Addison (b.1967) is the South African owner-operator of the underwater filming and expedition company ‘Blue Wilderness’ founded in 1997. He and his company filmed some of the most amazing sequences, such as the sardine run, in the BBC’s ‘Blue Planet’, for which they won an Emmy. He originally intended to become a lawyer and studied at Rand Afrikaans University (1988–1990). His father, Brent Addison, was a marine scientist so he was exposed to the sea life off southern Africa from an early age. He collected the holotype. He has been described as part-man, part-shark, part-comedian. After graduating, Mark founded what became South Africa’s largest dive charter boating company (1990–1996). He said of the naming, ‘They just ran out of ideas and named it after me’. Interestingly, the first part of the binomial of the Ornate Sleeper Ray is named after the Electrolux™ company because of the ray’s well-developed electrogenic properties and its vigorous sucking action when feeding.

Afuer

Peruvian Butterfly Ray Gymnura afuerae Hildebrand, 1946

Not an eponym but derived from the Spanish word for ‘exterior’.

Agassiz

Sand Shark genus Odontaspis Agassiz, 1838

River Shark genus Glyphis Agassiz, 1843

Weasel Shark genus Hemipristis Agassiz, 1843

Rio Skate Rioraja agassizii Müller & Henle, 1841

Megatooth Shark Carcharodon megalodon Agassiz, 1843

Jean Louis Rudolphe Agassiz (1807–1873) was a Swiss-American geologist, glaciologist and zoologist whose speciality was ichthyology. He studied at Zurich, Heidelberg and Munich, where he qualified as a physician (1830), and in Paris under Cuvier (1831). While still a student he was tasked with working on the Spix and Martius Brazilian freshwater fish collection. He became Professor of Natural History at the Lyceum de Neuchâtel (1832). He was the first person to propose scientifically that the Earth had been subject to an ice age and to study ice as a subject, having lived in a special hut built on a glacier in the Alps (1837). He went to the USA (1846) to study American natural history and geology and to deliver a course of zoology lectures. He visited again (1848) and remained there for the rest of his life, becoming Professor of Zoology and Geology at Harvard, where he founded and directed the Museum of Comparative Zoology (1859–1873). Latterly he took up studies of Brazilian fishes again and led the Thayer expedition to Brazil (1865). He established the Marine Biological Laboratory (1873). Three reptiles are named after him.

Ahmad

Circle-blotch Pygmy Swellshark Cephaloscyllium circulopullum Yano, Ahmad & Gambang, 2005

Sarawak Pygmy Swellshark Cephaloscyllium sarawakensis Yano, Ahmad & Gambang, 2005

Dr Amiruddin Ahmad is an ichthyologist who teaches biology at the University of Malaysia. He received his bachelor’s degree in botany (1995), an MSc in environmental science (2002) and his doctorate in ecology (2012). The primary goal of his research is to investigate the pattern of species diversity and analyse the community composition and assemblage structure of the fauna of Malaysia.

Akaje

Whip Stingray Dasyatis akajei Müller & Henle, 1841

[Alt. Japanese Red Stingray]

The original description has no etymology. It is probable that it is an adaptation of a Japanese name for this species. Müller and Henle have adopted such names in other cases. (See Zuge)

Alastair

Australian Hagfish sp. Eptatretus alastairi Mincarone & Fernholm, 2010

Alastair Graham (see Graham, A) was honoured for help and hospitality offered to the second author.

Alava

Ridgeback Skate Dipturus amphispinus Last & Alava, 2013

Moonyeen Nida R. Alava (b.1964) is a Filipino marine biologist and independent marine consultant. Her bachelor’s (1984) and master’s (1993) degrees, in biology and marine biology respectively, were awarded by Silliman University. She has a post-graduate certificate in integrated ecosystem management (2002) from the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, and PhD units on marine sciences (2010) from the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines. She has done work for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Conservation International, Global Marine Species Assessment – Coral Triangle, Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation, and Worldwide Fund for Nature, focusing on biodiversity research, conservation and management, in particular of marine threatened species. She was a co-author of the Checklist of Philippine Chondrichthyes (2005) and is lead author of A Field Guide to Sharks, Batoids and Chimaeras of the Philippines (in preparation).

Albert

Ratfish sp. Hydrolagus alberti Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951

Dr Albert Eide Parr (1890–1991) was an oceanographer and marine biologist born and raised in Norway where he took his first degree at the University of Oslo. He was in the Norwegian Merchant Marines and undertook postgraduate research at Bergen Museum. Yale awarded his doctorate. He worked at the New York Aquarium (1926), from where he was recruited to curate Harry Payne Bingham’s fish collection, which he donated to Yale; Parr went with it. At Yale he became Director of the oceanographic laboratory (1930s) and rose through the academic ranks, becoming Professor of Oceanography (1938) and Director of the Peabody Museum (1938–1942). He became Director of the AMNH (1942–1959) and reorganised many departments. He was editor of the authors’ Fishes of the Western North Atlantic monographs, and was honoured for his many contributions to ichthyology.

Alcock

Pale-spot Whipray Himantura alcockii Annandale, 1909

Arabian Catshark Bythaelurus alcockii Garman, 1913

Blind Ray genus Benthobatis Alcock, 1898

Ornate Dogfish Centroscyllium ornatum Alcock, 1889

Prickly Skate Fenestraja mamillidens Alcock, 1889

Bristly Catshark Bythaelurus hispidus Alcock, 1891

Dark Blind Ray Benthobatis moresbyi Alcock, 1898

Indian Ringed Skate Okamejei powelli Alcock, 1898

Quagga Catshark Halaelurus quagga Alcock, 1899

Travancore Skate Dipturus johannisdavisi Alcock, 1899

Major Dr Alfred William Alcock (1859–1933) joined the Indian Medical Service in 1885, having qualified as a physician at the University of Aberdeen. He was appointed Surgeon-Naturalist to the Indian Marine Service. As a naturalist he was mainly interested in fishes. He was based in Calcutta, dividing his time between the Indian Museum and the survey ship ‘Investigator’. He published a number of papers on the ichthyology of the Bay of Bengal, after which he returned to England. He wrote A Naturalist in the Indian Seas (1902). The catshark was named after him because he was the first (1896) to note that it was a distinct species. Two reptiles are also named after him.

Alexandrine

Alexandrine Torpedo Torpedo alexandrinsis Mazhar, 1987

Named after the city of Alexandria in Egypt, not after a person.

Alfred

Reef Manta Ray Manta alfredi JLG Krefft, 1868

[Alt. Reef Manta Ray]

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844–1900) was a son of Queen Victoria who ruled as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1893) in the Prussian Empire. He previously served in the Royal Navy and commanded ‘HMS Galatea’ in a circumnavigation (1867–1868). During this voyage he visited Australia twice, surviving an assassination attempt (1868) when he was shot in the back (the would-be assassin was promptly arrested, tried and hanged). The ‘Sydney Illustrated News’ in which Krefft published his article, stated that Prince Alfred had been presented with photographs of the Manta Ray.

Al-Hassan

Pita Skate Okamejei pita Fricke & Al-Hassan, 1995

Dr Laith Abdul Jalil Jawad Al-Hassan (b.1948) is an Iraqi-born New Zealand biologist and ichthyologist. He is a freelance fish biodiversity expert and consultant who has worked in Libya, Yemen and more recently Oman, as well as being a researcher in New Zealand. The University of Basrah, Iraq awarded his bachelor’s degree (1971), the University of Bristol his master’s (1980) and the University of Auckland his doctorate. He was an assistant professor, University of Basrah and an assistant professor, Zoology Department, University of Garyounis, Libya. Among over 220 scientific published articles and papers is the co-written A Bibliography of the Fishes of the Tigris-Euphrates Basin (1988).

Alia

Smalleye Pygmy Shark Squaliolus aliae Teng, 1959

Huang A-li is the name of Teng’s wife. He named the shark, which was first caught in Taiwanese waters, after her ‘…for her continuous encouragement and assistance over the past 20-some years’.

Alis

Skate sp. Notoraja alisae Séret & Last, 2012

Alis is the name of a ship used by the Institut de Recherche pour la Développement to undertake research off the coast of New Caledonia. The ship is in turn named after a local wind.

Allen

Allen’s Skate Pavoraja alleni McEachran & Fechhelm, 1982

Milne Epaulette Carpetshark Hemiscyllium michaeli Allen & Dudgeon, 2010

Walking Shark Hemiscyllium galei Allen & Erdmann, 2008

Bamboo Shark sp. Hemiscyllium henryi Allen & Erdmann, 2008

Dr Gerald R. Allen (b.1942) is an American-born Australian ichthyologist. The University of Hawaii awarded his PhD (1971), after which he began work (1972) as an ichthyologist at the Australian Museum, Sydney. He then moved to be Curator of Fishes at the Department of Ichthyology, Western Australian Museum, Perth (1974–1997). He worked (1997–2003) for Conservation International preparing distribution maps for all known reef fishes. He continues as a Research Associate of the Western Australian Museum. He has a particular interest in freshwater fish in New Guinea and Northern Australia. He has taken part in many collecting trips such as the Western Australian Museum expedition to the Kimberley Coast (1991) aboard ‘North Star IV’. During these trips he has logged over 7,500 dives. Among 32 books and over 300 papers he co-wrote The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia: A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers (1988). In 2013 he won the Bleeker Award and published Reef Fishes of the East Indies (3 volumes). His other interests include underwater photography and pursuits outside the marine environment include bird watching, rock climbing, mountaineering and bicycle racing, for which he has been eight-time state veteran champion. He was President of the Australian Society for Fish Biology (1979–1981). To date he has described 13 new genera and 456 species and was honoured in the skate name having often sent fish species to the authors.

Almeida

Ghost Shark sp. Hydrolagus lusitanicus Moura, Figueiredo, Bordalo-Machado, Almeida & Gordo, 2005

Ana Cristina Almeida is a microbiologist who works at the Instituto Nacional de Investigção Agrária e das Pescas, Lisbon.

Álvarez

Mexican Brook Lamprey Tetrapleurodon geminis Álvarez, 1964

Dr José Álvarez del Villar (1908–1988) collected the holotype (1962) when at the Hydrobiology Laboratory, National School of Biological Sciences, Mexico City, which awarded his doctorate. He wrote Claves para la Determinación de Especies en los Peces de las Aguas Continentales Mexicanas (1950).

Amanda

Freshwater Stingray sp. Potamotrygon amandae Loboda & Carvalho, 2013

Amanda Lucas Gimeno (1984–2006) was a Brazilian biologist who graduated (2005) from the University of São Paulo, where the senior author had been one of her undergraduate colleagues. She was killed when there was a collapse of an external awning of an amphitheatre at the State University of Londrina during the 26th Brazilian Congress of Zoology.

Ancon

Hagfish sp. Eptatretus ancon Mok, Saavedra-Diaz & Acero, 2001

[Syn. Quadratus ancon]

This refers to the research vessel ‘Ancon’ from which the holotype was collected.

Anderson

Florida Torpedo Torpedo andersoni Bullis, 1962

William Wyatt Anderson (1909–1993) was an American ichthyologist who was a fisheries research biologist at the State Game and Fish Commission, Coastal Fisheries Division, Brunswick, Georgia, USA, and a close friend of the describer. He was honoured as a ‘…colleague and mentor, whose labors have contributed immeasurably to our knowledge of the marine fauna of the southeastern United States.’ They co-wrote a number of papers such as Searching the Sea Bed by Sub (1970).

Andriashev

Little-eyed Skate Bathyraja andriashevi Dolganov, 1985

Professor Dr Anatoly Petrovich Andriyashev (1910–2009) was a Russian marine biologist. Leningrad State University awarded his bachelor’s degree (1933), his doctorate (1937) and his further doctorate of science (1951). He became a researcher at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1943) and a professor there (1970). He wrote Fishes of the Northern Seas of the USSR (1964).

Anikin

Siberian Brook Lamprey Lethenteron kessleri Anikin, 1905

V.P. Anikin was Curator of the Zoological Museum of Tomsk University (1898). He undertook a collecting expedition (1902) in the Narym Territory. Among other papers he wrote Description of New Fish Species from Asia, which includes the description of the lamprey (1905).

Annandale

Annandale’s Skate Rajella annandalei Weber, 1913

Annandale’s Guitarfish Rhinobatos annandalei Norman, 1926

Annandale’s Skate Rajella annandalei Stehmann, 1970

Smalleye Stingray Dasyatis microps Annandale, 1908

Brown Numbfish Narcine brunnea Annandale, 1909

Pale-spot Whipray Himantura alcockii Annandale, 1909

Honeycomb Whipray Himantura fava Annandale, 1909

Jenkins’ Whipray Himantura jenkinsii Annandale, 1909

Dr ‘Thomas’ Nelson Annandale (1876–1924) was a zoologist (primarily entomologist and herpetologist) and anthropologist who became Superintendent of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, which still houses his insect and spider collection. He was instrumental in establishing a purely zoological survey, not combined with anthropology, undertaking several expeditions (from 1899), most notably the Annandale-Robinson expedition that collected in Malaya (1901–1902). He went to India as Deputy Superintendent at the Museum (1904), and Director (1907). He became the first director of the Zoological Survey of India (1916–1924). He was also noted for his work on the biology and anthropology of the Faroe Islands and Iceland. He wrote or co-wrote a number of scientific papers (1903–1921), including The Aquatic and Amphibious Molluscs of Manipu (1921). He was honoured in the name of the guitarfish for his contributions to Indian ichthyology, which included an account of this species (1909). Six amphibians, four reptiles and a mammal are named after him.

Antuna-Mendiola

White-margin Fin Houndshark Mustelus albipinnis Castro-Aguirre, Antuna-Mendiola, González-Acosta & De La Cruz-Agüero, 2005

Alberto Antuna-Mendiola is a Mexican biologist and ichthyologist who graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico (2004) and is now at the Ichthyology Department, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine Sciences, National Polytechnic Institute.

Applegate

Carpet Sharks Orectolobiformes Applegate, 1972

Blind Sharks Brachaeluridae Applegate, 1974

Snouted Eagle Ray Myliobatis longirostris Applegate & Fitch, 1964

Dr Shelton Pleasants Applegate (1928–2005) was an expert on both living and fossil sharks. After service in the US Navy he took a bachelor’s degree at the University of Richmond and a master’s at the University of Virginia; the University of Chicago awarded his doctorate. At the time of his death he was an associate professor at Harvard and professor at the University of Mexico, Mexico City, having previously worked at the Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Duke University, the University of Chicago and Arkansas State University.

Ara

Roughtail Catshark Galeus arae Nichols, 1927

This species is named after the yacht ‘Ara’, owned by William K. Vanderbilt, which collected the first two specimens.

Archey

Sherwood Dogfish Scymnodalatias sherwoodi Archey, 1921

Sir Gilbert Edward Archey (1890–1974) was a zoologist, ethnologist and museum director who was born in England and taken to New Zealand as a child. He took both his bachelor’s degree and doctorate at Canterbury University College, Christchurch. He was Assistant Curator, Canterbury Museum (1914–1923), though First World War service in the New Zealand Army interrupted his career, as did similar Second World War service. He was Director, Auckland Institute (1924–1964) and noted for his work on moas and on Maori art. He wrote The Moa, a Study of the Dinornithiformes (1941). An amphibian is named after him.

Arlyza

Fine-spotted Leopard Whipray Himantura tutul Borsa, Durand, K-N Shen, Arlyza, Solihin & Berrebi, 2013

Dr Irma Shita Arlyza (b.1974) is an Indonesian geneticist. The Pertanian Bogor Institute awarded both her master’s degree (2003) and her doctorate (2013). Since 2005 she has worked at the Oceanography Research Centre, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta. She co-wrote Resurrection of New Caledonia Maskray Neotrygon trigonoides (Myliobatoidei: Dasyatidae) from Synonymy with N. kuhlii Based on Cytochrome-oxydase I Gene Sequences and Spotting Patterns (2013).

Aschliman

Roughnose Legskate Cruriraja hulleyi Aschliman, Ebert & Compagno, 2010

Dr Neil C. Aschliman is an assistant professor in the Biology Department, St Ambrose University, Iowa. His bachelor’s degree (2005) was awarded by Texas A & M University and his doctorate by Florida State University, Tallahassee (2011). The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists gave him the 2010 Frederick H. Stoye Award in General Ichthyology. He wrote A New Framework for Interpreting the Evolution of Skates and Rays (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea) (2011) and is the lead author of Body Plan Convergence in the Evolution of Skates and Rays (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea) (2012) and of Phylogeny of Batoidea, a chapter in Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives (2012, second edition, edited by Carrier et al.).

Atlantis

Atlantic Legskate Cruriraja atlantis Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948

This is named after the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research vessel ‘Atlantis’, which collected three new species of skate along the coasts of Cuba, including this one.

Atz

Atz’s Numbfish Narcine atzi Carvalho & Randall, 2003

Dr James Wade Atz (1915–2013) was Curator Emeritus Vertebrate Zoology and Dean Bibliographer, Department of Ichthyology at AMNH, which he joined (1964), having been Associate Curator of the New York City Aquarium (c.1959–1964). He was a curator at the AMNH (1970–1981). He was also Adjunct Professor of Biology, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University, where he had earned his master’s degree (1952) and his doctorate. Among his many publications are several books on aquarium and tropical fish and his Dean Bibliography of Fishes 1968 (1971). For the benefit of the American Jewish community he produced a definitive list of kosher and non-kosher fishes. He was reported to have a wicked sense of humour and enjoyed winding up the well-known chat-show host Johnny Carson on how fish have sex and how some change sex to adjust the male/female sex ratio. He was honoured ‘…for his many contributions to different aspects of ichthyology, and for his unparalleled enthusiasm for the study of fishes.’

Ayres

Lamprey sp. Lampetra ayresii Günther, 1870

Shovelnose Guitarfish Rhinobatos productus Ayres, 1854

Seven Gill Shark sp. Notorynchus maculatus Ayres, 1855

Pacific Electric Ray Torpedo californica Ayres, 1855

Pacific Angelshark Squatina californica Ayres, 1859

Dr William Orville Ayres (1817–1887) was an American ichthyologist who qualified as a physician at Yale and